Lectins: The Gluten-Lectin-Leaky Gut Connection
After reading hundreds of articles and research papers, we started to come across several papers and theories that seemed like the pieces of a puzzle whose image was hidden. After several years and much effort, the pieces finally started fitting together to reveal a compelling picture. The following is our interpretation of what may be behind the increase in autoimmune and food-related disorders: Though it is a complicated, poorly understood, and controversial condition, we believe that leaky gut syndrome is highly relevant and may play a crucial role in the development of celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, chronic fatigue syndrome, psoriasis and much more. We understand that leaky gut syndrome is a widely debated condition and that not all health professionals believe it to be related to (or a direct cause of) disease. As research progresses, many doctors, dietitians, and researchers are becoming aware of the condition and seek ways to test for and treat it. If you haven’t heard of leaky gut syndrome, please read below: Leaky gut syndrome is the easier-to-say term for increased intestinal wall permeability. It just means that gut wall is easier to cross than it should be. The gut wall begins to be more porous and develop holes. Basically, your gut is leaking things it shouldn’t into your bloodstream. Leaky gut is thought to be caused or worsened by certain components of foods (more on that later), cytotoxic drugs, NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), irradiation of food, antibiotics, unbalanced gut flora, excessive alcohol consumption and compromised immunity. How It Works The intestinal lining is on the front lines of our immune system. We like to think of it as castle wall – we let the drawbridge down for visitors we know (like food and resource deliveries) but we leave it up to keep out invaders. The other layers of this sophisticated defense is called the epithelium. A single layer of epithelial cells normally stay connected together by tight junctions. These tight junctions are how the passage of nutrients is regulated in the digestive tract. The epithelial cells in the gut are tipped with finger-like projections called villi. When food is digested, villi absorb the nutrients and transport them through the epithelial cell into the bloodstream. When the digestive process is functioning normally, the tight junctions stay closed and only nutrients are allowed to pass through into the blood stream. When something goes wrong, the tight junctions become permeable or “open” and allow un-screened molecules through the border and into the bloodstream. Examples of things that can get through in this situation are bacteria, pathogens, yeast, incompletely digested food, lectins and more. That’s why we call it a leaky gut. As this process continues over time, the intestinal lining can become damaged and even leakier, allowing even more “undesirables” through the intestinal wall and directly into the bloodstream. Typically, this increase in offenders in the blood will make the liver and kidneys work that much harder to filter it all out. As the gut becomes increasingly damaged, the liver or kidneys may not be able to keep up with the constant flow of bacteria, pathogens, yeast, undigested macro-nutrients and waste products escaping through the gut lining. As more invaders get through, overworking and overwhelming liver and kidneys, they are able to wreak havoc systemically (throughout the body). When these offenders attach to the cells lining the gut, an immune response is triggered which can lead to collateral damage of healthy cells. This can lead to another chain of events in which the immune system begins to recognize certain molecules from food as invaders, calls for an immune response whenever you eat those foods, which can then cause even more collateral damage. This collateral damage can be experienced as bloating, cramps, diarrhea, inflammation, joint pain, skin rashes, headaches, malabsorption and more. As the result of continuous immune response and corresponding collateral damage, the gut becomes more and more damaged. If you are frequently eating foods that it recognizes as an invader – it has no time to heal. Healthy cells are destroyed and those microvilli we talked about earlier are not able to do their job, which prevents your body from getting all the nutrients that you need, which in turn leads to all sorts of problems such as a weakened immune system or nutritional deficiencies. To make matters worse, as your immune systems weakens, you become more susceptible to illness from the stream of junk (toxins, bacteria, pathogens, etc.) flowing through your leaky gut. If this vicious cycle continues for weeks or months or years, you body may ultimately end up fighting itself, potentially leading to the initiation of autoimmune diseases such as as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, vasculitis, urticaria (hives), alopecia areata, polymyalgia rheumatica, Raynaud’s syndrome, vitiligo, thyroiditis, and Sjogren’s syndrome. With me so far? Great! Let’s go deeper and talk about the probable triggers that start off this awful process. The Hidden Causes Some of the most interesting emerging research regarding digestion and autoimmune disease has to do with a few factors that could be triggers for opening the draw bridge (tight junctions) of the gut. A few key factors that appear to be the likely causes of leaky gut are zonulin, gluten (the gliadin portion), and some lectins. Zonulin Zonulin is a protein that modulated the permeability of the tight junctions in the gut. So far, it is the only “key” that we know the human body produces. Zonulin upregulation has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several autoimmune diseases including celiac and type 1 diabetes. Zonulin is currently being studied as a potential target for celiac treatment. Gliadin Gliadin (1/2 of the protein complex we commonly refer to as gluten) has been shown to active (upregulate) zonulin signaling in everyone, regardless of celiac status, leading to the opening of tight junctions in the gut and leading to increased gut permeability. Gliadin is found in wheat, barley, rye, and triticale, which are all grains found nearly everywhere in our modern food supply. There are three main types
